Philadelphia, June 24, 2020 – The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the longest running and most successful professional lacrosse league in the world, today announced the following key dates for 2020 off-season lacrosse operations . The process was approved by the NLL Board of Governors during last week’s meetings and agreed upon with the Professional Lacrosse Players’ Association.
PRACTICE PLAYER TIMELINE
Starting Monday, June 29th at 12:00 PM ET, the roster transactions freeze will partially end and, for 72-hours, Clubs will be permitted to add Practice Players to the Active Roster for the purpose of retaining their services, release players, and agree with a Practice Player to a Protected Practice Player contract. Players who agree with their Club to a Protected Practice Player Contract will be scheduled to become a Restricted Free Agent on August 1st.
This 72-hour limited transactions window will end on Thursday, July 2nd at 12:00 PM ET. At this time, all typical off-season transactions will be allowed including the Clubs’ ability to re-sign their own players and make trades in preparation for the Free Agency period. Other key dates remain the same as previous seasons:
FRANCHISE PLAYER DEADLINE
The Franchise Player Designation deadline is July 31st, 2020. Designated players will not become an Unrestricted Free Agent. Players who are 34-years old or older may reject the Franchise Player Designation.
FREE AGENCY PERIOD
The 2020 Free Agency period begins on August 1st, 2020. Players who qualify for Restricted Free Agency and Unrestricted Free Agency may be contacted by and sign with other Clubs.
ENTRY DRAFT ELIGIBILITY
Effective for the 2020 Entry Draft, Clubs will be permitted to draft NCAA players who have completed four seasons of eligibility, regardless of whether the player is returning to school to play a fifth NCAA season. If a player is drafted and returns to school to play a fifth NCAA season, the Club that drafted the player will retain its rights to the player.
ENTRY DRAFT ORDER
The selection order was determined by reverse order of regular season winning percentage, using Overall Tiebreakers under the NLL Regulations when necessary.
Using this season’s final regular season standings, the 2020 Entry Draft order is as follows:
1. New York
2. Rochester
3. Vancouver
4. San Diego
5. Calgary
6. Colorado
7. Philadelphia
8. Georgia
9. Buffalo
10. Toronto
11. Halifax
12. Saskatchewan
13. New England
Georgia owns New England’s pick in the first round.
Dates for the 2020-21 NLL Draft and other key information regarding the start of the 35th NLL season will be announced in the coming weeks.
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About the National Lacrosse League
Founded in 1986, the National Lacrosse League (NLL) is the longest running and most successful professional lacrosse league, ranking third in average attendance for pro indoor sports behind only the NHL and NBA. The League is comprised of 13 franchises across the United States and Canada: Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Georgia Swarm, Halifax Thunderbirds, New England Black Wolves, New York Riptide, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, San Diego Seals, Saskatchewan Rush, Toronto Rock, and Vancouver Warriors.
According to recent research, the NLL fan is younger (average age 46) than almost every North American professional sports league. Almost sixty percent of its fans come from a non-lacrosse fan base, while the general lacrosse fan has become more engaged than at any point in the history of the league. Most importantly, NLL fans are extremely passionate and engaged, with 58% of NLL fans identifying their favorite NLL team as their favorite sports team. Focusing on a digital first strategy, every NLL game is distributed on Turner’s B/R Live streaming service available on desktop, iOS, Android, and connected devices. The NLL Game of The Week broadcast is also available on Facebook and Twitter, and averages over 160,000 unique viewers per game this season.
For more information, visit NLL.com and find the NLL on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.